Here's The One Reason Why You Should Be Smelling Your Wine

Did you know you don’t really “taste” strawberry? Or cinnamon? Your taste buds only react to a handful of sensations: sweet, sour, salty, acid, bitter and umami (those rich, earthy notes found in mushrooms and sea urchin, for example). Everything else comes from your sense of smell, as we “taste” through a complex interplay between the chemoreceptors in the nose (olfactory receptors) and those in the mouth.

It’s one reason wine connoisseurs obsessively smell their wine before sipping it: To take in all the depth and complexity (or lack thereof) that a wine has to offer. Wine can be pretty tricky -- and in a way, more fun – to decipher than food. You might get strawberries and cream on the nose, but it tastes like straight-up cherries and chocolate. It’s a constant guessing game of smell-versus-taste that makes wine so unique.

We sniffed out a group of wine experts and asked them to give us the lowdown on aromatics, particularly in wines from the Ribera del Duero region of Spain.

Wine: Why Do You Swirl A Glass Of Wine?

You might have noticed this (or done it yourself) in a restaurant: The server pours a small amount of the wine, and the guest swirls the glass before bringing it to his or her nose and mouth. While it might be considered extravagant, swirling the wine serves a purpose: “We are helping to wake the wine up from its nap faster,” Braham Callahan says. “More oxygen means the wine will progress faster” and open up a variety of aromatic and flavor notes.

Think about it this way: Wine has been “cooped up” in a bottle for months or years with little to no oxygen. Oxygen, over time, changes the character of the wine. It helps it age, but can also be damaging (it’s one reason you usually can’t enjoy a half-full bottle two weeks later). But when you open the wine, oxygen helps it come to. When you bring it to your nose and then your mouth after swirling, a high-quality wine will be more expressive and interesting.

Tea: What Is The Best Temperature At Which To Brew Tea?

As with coffee, people have become increasingly savvy about high-quality tea. But too often we don’t think about how long we’re dunking a teabag or how hot or cold the water is. In fact, green and black teas benefit from different steeping temperatures and times. As with wine, there are a wide range of personal and cultural preferences -- though there are some generalities that will improve your tea time.

Black teas have fermented and oxidized leaves, which toughens them up for storage and transport. Most black teas benefit from water that’s been brought to a full boil and kept there (say 200 degrees to 212 degrees) and brewed for four to five minutes. Green and white teas don’t go through the drying and fermenting process and are far more delicate and prone to bruising and scalding. They also contain less caffeine and more antioxidants than black tea. The ideal steeping temperature is 170 degrees to 180 degrees, for about 3 minutes. Bonus: high-quality green teas and white teas can be used a second and even a third time to alter the flavor.

Wine: Why Do We Smell Wine, Anyway?

When it comes to wine, memory associations allow aficionados to draw a complex portrait from the wine before it ever hits their tongue. “It’s an initial impression,” Callahan says. “We want to figure out what is ‘driving the bus,’ if you will.” For example, are the dominant notes fruit-driven, vegetal or earthy? Is oak aging evident? Is it extremely aromatic or subtle?

The soil the grapes are grown in, the weather conditions and whether or not barrels are used for aging can affect a wine’s aroma. Does your white wine smell strongly of green apple and pineapple? It could be a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. The buttery notes common to old-school California Chardonnays come from a technique called malolactic fermentation and a heavy hand of oak aging. Malbec might have black plum and black cherry on the nose, where a Syrah can be peppery and clove-like. What’s truly intriguing about wine is the vast range of aromas people detect, including some you might never think of. South African wines often have a characteristic burnt rubber note. While green bell pepper can indicate a degree of under ripeness in the grapes used to make the wines, in Cabernet Franc and Carmenere wines it can be a dominant note that winemakers actually seek to infuse. “Wet Slate” or “Barn Earth?” Those are generally indicators of terroir driven wines and great to find wafting up from the glass. Believe it or not, a smell resembling “cat urine” is a good thing in some Sauvignon Blancs!

When it comes to Ribera del Duero Tempranillo wines, “they have a delicious red and black fruit element,” Lit says. “Ripe blackberry, black cherry, red plum skin are a few of the fruit descriptors. There is also often a beautiful mineral and floral component. You might get crushed granite with red rose and lily. Moreover, there is a vanilla and cedar element that really ties the aromatics together and creates complexity on the nose.”

Food: We Smell More Than We Taste

Around 90% of things we describe as “taste” are actually associated with smell. You may think you’re tasting the meaty goodness of a cooked steak, but really, before it’s hit your tongue, your brain has determined whether the meat is well cooked, whether there are ammonia or rotten notes, what herbs and spices were incorporated, whether it was grilled over a charcoal flame or fried in a pan.

People find it hard to believe they’re not actually tasting pepper or pumpkin pie, but experiencing these primarily through scent. One easy way to test this fact: Score one of those nose clips swimmers use, close your eyes and have a friend put a small amount of ground cinnamon on your tongue, then do the same with pepper (or vice versa). Do the same with small chunks of apple versus onion. They’re surprisingly difficult to differentiate without those immediate aromatic bursts.

Wine: Letting It Breathe

Sometimes with a fine red wine (especially if it’s been aging for several years), a sommelier will open the bottle and let it sit for half an hour or so, or decant it, before serving it. As the wine sits (and “breathes”), the aromas will change in subtle but perceptible ways, with new characteristics appearing.

“You’re letting the wine open up,” Johnson says. “Decanting speeds up this process. Additionally, by expanding the surface area of the wine through a large red wine glass, you’re allowing even more oxygen into the wine. This can make a tight wine even better.”

So-called “tight” aromatics of under-ripe fruit, alcohol or heavy oak will soften, and subtler fruit, earth and vegetal notes will appear as the wine relaxes. This also allows a wine that perhaps was initially served too cold to warm up a bit. “When served too cold, all of the aromatics and nuances get lost,” Santoro says. “The personality is indistinguishable.”

Cheese: Give It Time

Wine isn’t the only thing that benefits from waiting before diving into it. For decades, Americans (especially) were used to processed blocks or slices of nondescript cheese, where it didn’t matter if we pulled it from the fridge and plopped it onto a sandwich. Thankfully, that’s changed and fine cheeses appear everywhere. But there’s a catch: they’re better when they’ve had a chance to sit, warm up and “breathe.” A chilled wedge of cheese temporarily loses its complexity, and even hard cheeses should sit for a half-hour to an hour before consumption. This allows the fat-soluble flavors to spread across the tongue better, the moisture to spread throughout the wedge and the texture to return to what the cheesemaker intended.

Wine: What Does Oak Aging Add To A Wine’s Nose?

Some red and white wines are aged in oak barrels for anywhere from a few months to a few years, and to that point some regions have legally mandated aging guidelines, like the region of Ribera del Duero. These mandates, for aging in the barrels and in the bottles, are set so the wines achieve a degree of complexity before they are sold and fall into specific classifications.

Aging in oak does a number of things: The wine interacts with the wood, softening grape tannins (that tingling sensation you get with red wine), adding oak tannins, allowing the wine to rest and develop a sense of balance, and imparting additional flavor and aromatic notes from the oak. What’s fascinating is that the same wine can vary in smell and taste based on which region the wood for the barrel is harvested. A master winemaker can take advantage of these distinctions to achieve the exact balance he or she seeks.

“There are many types of oak barrels -- American, French, Hungarian, Galician -- the list goes on and on,” Santoro says. Among the most common are French, Spanish and American oak. “The age of the tree, its pore size, type and the char (the wood barrels are cured with fire) have a tremendous impact on the final product. Generally speaking, for example, new American oak often imparts notes of dill, vanilla and coconut, while French oak gives subtler, spicier notes and firmer tannins.” Many of the red wines we know and love simply wouldn’t be the same (or, arguably, as good) without the influence of oak.

Bourbon: What Does Oak Aging Add To Whiskey?

Scotch, Bourbon and Rye whiskies must be aged a certain amount of time in oak to meet the legal definitions of their respective categories. For Scotch (which can only be made in Scotland), the barrels traditionally have been used to age wine, sherry or bourbon. For Bourbon (which can only be made in America), the oak must be “charred” or burned on the insides and “new.” That is, the containers have never been used to store other products.

All of whiskey’s complex flavors, roundness and color come from the interaction between the wood and the spirit over the course of a few months or years. The physical and chemical interactions between whiskey and wood change the nature of the spirit from a brash, often violent “hooch” to the smooth, amber nectar whiskey fans love. Like wine, notes of dill, coconut, caramel and toast all derive from the wood. A significant portion of a whiskey’s characteristic flavor comes from the wood.